Local News

Fort Morgan Police Department holding first National Night Out celebration

Combined with second Party in the Park, lots happening Tuesday in City Park

By Jenni Grubbs

Times Staff Writer

Posted:
07/27/2017 06:14:30 PM MDT

Fort Morgan Police Department will host its first National Night Out event from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in City Park, along with the city's second Party in the Park of the summer happening, too. Pictured, from left, are: Chief's Administrative Assistant Bev Morford, Patrol Officer Chris Garcia, Sgt. Doug Schossow, Chief of Public Safety Paul Schultz, Commander Loren Sharp and Code Enforcement Officer John Simpson. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

When Paul Schultz was tapped to be Fort Morgan's chief of public safety last December, one of his big goals was to bring to the city a large community event he successfully got going through police departments he previously headed in Canon City and Nebraska.

He began working for the city and leading its police department in January, and about seven months later, his goal will come to fruition as Fort Morgan celebrates its first National Night Out on Tuesday night in City Park.

Schultz described National Night Out, which dates back to 1984 through the National Association of Town Watch, as a community event to bring law enforcement and the people they serve together to get to know one another, have fun together and become more comfortable with one another.

Banners announcing the National Night Out Party in the Park Tuesday night in City Park stretch across Fort Morgan streets, like this one hanging over Sherman Street. The Fort Morgan Police Department is hoping lots of city residents will come to the main event, which lasts from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and will conclude with a concert by the Platte Valley Band. (Bev Morford / Special to the Times)

"I'm really big on community policing," Schultz said.

Fort Morgan will be one of 67 Colorado law enforcement agencies celebrating Tuesday night, and the National Night Out event looks to be a big one for this community, based on everything the police department and city have put together.

"There will be a free community barbecue," he said, "with two grills."

Both the city's grill and the fire department's grills will be put to good use, Schultz said.

"Most of the city council even volunteered to cook," the chief's administrative assistant, Bev Morford, said.

"We're hoping for a big turnout," the chief said. "Everyone's invited to come out and learn about their police department."

Lots to do

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And there will be at least 20 informational booths set up, lots of activities and games for kids, many police, public safety and other city vehicles on display, a bike rodeo put on by the FMPD bike patrol and Community Resource Officer Roger Doll, a safety village, the FMPD's K-9 officer and a concert by the Platte Valley Band.

"Kids will have the opportunity to touch police and public safety vehicles and ask how they work," the chief said.

The chief has his whole department working on both the big event and several "satellite" ones happening before Tuesday.

Code Enforcement Officer John Simpson said he had gathered informational brochures and packets on all kinds of topics, and they will be given out at the satellite events and at the main event.

"We tried to get brochures to cover just about everything, and I think we did it," Simpson said.

Some of those brochures cover things like: phone fraud, ID theft, drugs, alcohol, making homes safe and making neighborhoods safe.

Simpson also pointed to coloring and activity books that will be available for children to take.

And on the topic of children, the police department has 2,000 child ID kits to distribute to local parents at the National Night Out event, Schultz said. Those kits were donated to FMPD by Farmer Insurance in June.

The kits will be among the things available at the booths Tuesday night, with the police department booth getting staffed by a wide variety of employees, the chief said.

"We'll have a lot of people in the booth, rotating through," he said.

Different roles

Further, the police officers will be there not for patrol, but as active participants in the activities and events going on, including the bike rodeo. Simpson encouraged kids and adults to bring their bikes to the park if they want to try out the safety course that will be set up in the park.

And when the Platte Valley Band takes the stage around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, there will be two department members among the musicians. Detective Todd Zwetzig plays trombone and Chaplain Joe Bowman plays trumpet.

"It's unusual to have a band at one of these (National Night Out) events," Schultz said," not unheard of. But it's really unusual to have police officers in the band. We're really proud of that."

Zwetzig said he expects the band's show to be "a lot of fun" and a good addition to the event.

"It's been a lot of fun getting out and doing things, meeting the people," he said, adding that he likes "being able to interact with people on something positive, rather than writing a ticket or arresting them."

Zwetzig plans on wearing his uniform on stage while playing his trombone.

"Anytime we can get out and have a positive interaction with people is good," he said. "They get to see us through a different lens."

"The whole focus of this is community safety, community partnership, crime prevention, and building a better rapport with the community," Schultz said. "We have an excellent rapport with the community, but it can be even better."

Award-winning history

And buzzing overhead at National Night Out on Tuesday will be a drone provided by the city's information technology director, Nelson McCoy.

Those pictures will be used to help determine crowd size and document what happens at the city's first National Night Out event.

They also will be used to seek an award for the event, according to the chief.

Departments led by Schultz in both Colorado and Nebraska have won a total of seven national awards for this program, and he hopes to add to that total with National Night Out events in Fort Morgan.

Morford said that she and other department staff would be putting things together to apply for the "rookie of the year" event award.

Satellite events

Before Tuesday, the police department has three other satellite events set to happen in conjunction with National Night Out.

One such event already was held at Safeway, with 85 people stopping by the police department booth set up there, according to Simpson.

Another such booth will be set up from 8 to 10 a.m. Sunday at Walmart by the north entrance. Officers will be handing out informational items, balloons and more, as well as talking with people about the police department.

On Monday, there will be an open house at Fort Morgan Police Department at 901 E. Beaver Ave. from 3 to 6 p.m., with tours of the department building, perhaps even including Fort Morgan Municipal Court. It is a chance for people to get inside the department and see parts of it rarely open to the public, according to Schultz.

"Everyone's invited to stop by and go for a tour," the chief said, and there will be punch and cookies at the end of the tours.

School Resource Officer Tim Malone will offer guided tours, or people can go on self-guided tours, Morford said.

On Tuesday, the department will host a satellite National Night Out event at the Hillcrest Apartments from 4 to 6 p.m. so that residents there can learn about the police department.

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